Arsonist Who Set Fire To Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s Home Said He Wanted To Beat Him With A Hammer

Cody A. Balmer, 38, has been charged with attempted criminal homicide, aggravated arson, burglary, terrorism, and multiple other counts in connection with arson at the home of Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) early Sunday morning.

In a Sunday press conference, Shapiro said, “This kind of violence is not okay…I don’t give a d— if it’s coming from one particular side or the other, directed at one particular party of another, one one particular person or another. It is not OK, and it has to stop.”

Balmer was caught on security cameras in and outside of the house, seen wearing a black jacket and boots and carrying a bag. He reportedly climbed Shapiro’s fence and used a hammer to break a window in the piano room before throwing Molotov cocktails inside, lighting up the residence. After throwing the first Molotov cocktails inside the house, Balmer broke another window and entered, before deploying another incendiary device in the dining room. He exited the house through the same entrance.

The fire erupted at 2:00 a.m. and lasted for several minutes. Shapiro and his wife, Lori Shapiro, were both inside at the time of the fire, as well as other guests and staff. No one was injured in the attack, although prosecutors say that the home sustained “substantial damage.”

Investigators found two broken glass beer bottles in the dining room, both of which contained gasoline and gloves that had a “strong smell of gasoline emanating from them” were found in a nearby trashcan.

The Pennsylvania State Police in Harrisburg were contacted by an ex-partner of Balmer’s who reported that Balmer had confessed to the act and “wanted her to call police to turn him in.” Shortly later, Balmer approached a state police trooper at the department headquarters and said he was responsible for the fire in the governor’s residence and “wished to turn himself in.”

After turning himself in on Sunday, Balmer acknowledged to police that he had always “harbored hatred towards Governor Shapiro.” According to the probable cause affidavit, when asked what he would have done had Shapiro found him inside the residence, Balmer “advised he would have beaten him with his hammer.”